Web3 Fundamentals Return in 2026

Crypto entered 2026 with a familiar dichotomy: The industry is maturing, but its decentralized identity is at risk. Still, following years heavily dominated by speculation, 2025 became the year that pushed builders and investors toward fundamentals and proved that blockchain can support real-world goods, services and infrastructure.

In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, Cointelegraph explores what that shift looked like on the ground, particularly through the lens of the emerging “machine economy.”

DePIN brings “real-world” crypto closer

Leonard Dorlöchter, co-founder of peaq, argues that 2025 was a turning point in how projects were evaluated. 

He added that “protocol revenue looked front and center” after an earlier period of memecoin-driven speculation. The push toward fundamentals has been driven partly by DePIN, decentralized physical infrastructure networks, where projects aim to build services that generate measurable revenue. 

Dorlöchter said, “We’ve been seeing early revenue, real revenue happening within DePIN,” and added that some networks are already proving “you can build a decentralized network of IoT devices… and channel those back to tokens.” 

Related: Web3 and DApps in 2026: A utility-driven year ahead for crypto

For builders, the implication is clear: Revenue matters, but so does the type of value being created, especially as the industry pushes toward broader adoption.

The machine economy and onchain coordination

Dorlöchter described the machine economy as “any device, robot or agent autonomously transacting with each other or with humans as well.” He said the past year brought meaningful progress in standardization, including the release of protocols that help agents discover services and interact across systems. 

“A lot of the foundational work in terms of standardization has been happening last year,” he said, adding that “it really goes into production right now.” And for Dorlöchter, the stakes go beyond convenience:

Still, he also emphasized that decentralization must remain foundational even as regulation and mainstream adoption accelerate.

Looking ahead, he expects a rise in autonomous agents transacting onchain: 

To hear the complete conversation on Byte-Sized Insight, listen to the full episode on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And remember to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows!

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